The two charts above are M1 EURUSD. I always have M5 open at the same time because, at times, it will influence my trading decision.

All trades are based on support and resistance lines in combination with the EMAs and candle patterns.

My Story

About 5 years ago I heard about a fellow who had realized profit of ¼ million dollars trading in something called the Foreign Exchange Market. I didn’t have a clue about what that was but I did understand what a profit of that magnitude meant.

Not knowing anything about anything regarding the FOREX I decided to peruse the internet and study what was available. That was my beginning.

The Readers Digest version on the odyssey was that, after much pain and suffering, I concluded several things:

a) Most people are not profitable in the FOREX but they love to learn the “lingo” and talk like they know what they are doing.

b) The great challenge is not to find a profitable system. It’s to follow the rules of a system.

c) Brokers offer a valid service but you had better know their game and keep your hand on your wallet when dealing with them.

Kudos to FXopen in this area. You guys have established a whole new playing field for the retail market place. I can only imagine the nasty things other brokers are saying about you. Your actions are forcing accountability across the board. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Considering revelation “a” above I continued to research programs and follow up on interesting leads but chose to completely disassociate myself from all blogs and talking heads who profess world class expertise in the FOREX.  About 10 months ago I concluded it was time to create my own trading strategy based on what I was learning about the FOREX and more importantly, what I was learning about myself – and so I have.

My huge advantage over all the computer geeks, MBA grads from MIT and established “experts” in the FOREX universe continues to be my ignorance. For example:

1)  I didn’t know you couldn’t trade trends on M1. When I discovered that “fact” it was too late. I was already doing it.

2)  I didn’t know it was impossible to trade on M1 with stop losses of 10 pips while scaling in multiple positions at 2% of your account size and so I learned how to do it.

Apparently that is impossible. I came to hate all the indicators that don’t work so I decided to establish a standard of visual simplicity and keep the charts as uncluttered as possible. I use 4 EMAs, standard chart lines for significant events (market opens, previous day highs and lows, news etc) and candles. Oh yes, I am also well on my way to mastering what I refer to as “candle talk”. Those little suckers are my primary indicators. Repetitive patterns clearly expose support and resistance lines, over and over.

I suppose you could say this has become a passion of mine. I am usually up at 2:30am (EST) for London and will trade as long as possible until I go to my day job. I have been doing things this way for almost 5 years.

The bizarre part is that until about a week ago I have not traded live with money. That is not quite accurate. In the beginning, 5 years ago, I traded live with money and got clobbered. I lost 18 trades in a row. It amazed me. I didn’t have the foggiest idea why I lost but my account wasn’t lying. My consistency was what really got my attention and spurred me on. It seemed to me that if I could make the wrong decision 18 times in a row it was possible to change my decisions and do the opposite. That idea captured my imagination.

Hedging has been instrumental in solving my last trading riddle. I have been working on that thing for the past 3 months. My first week “live with money” I am break even. Certainly not a barn burning demonstration but that’s okay. I can see where I am going and it is good…very good.

Now, let’s talk about your One Click Trading tool. I call it FRED. It is much easier than the other name.

FRED is sooo cool. I think of him as the Swiss Army Knife of order entry vehicles.

Fred has taught me two very valuable things I didn’t know:

a) How much liquidity there is at any given second. It’s amazing really.

b) The advantage of hedging. Frankly, that subject always intimidated me until FRED got me thinking and experimenting with it. WOW! I love you FRED.

Specific to FRED’s army knife arsenal I would like to offer several suggestions. I hope you will consider implementing them in the near future. I am not a programmer and don’t have the foggiest idea if what I am asking for is possible but here goes.

Why not design FRED in such a way that allows guys like me to build him “one off”, according to my needs. Everyone has their own trading style and strategy and that has an impact on what tools they need at their finger tips.

As example I don’t use CS, CL or CP and I don’t need Daily high and low because, being a visual trader, I mark that information directly on my charts. But there are several items that would be invaluable to me

1…Due to the fact I trade M1 a candle clock would be very handy. How many times have I found myself wondering when the candle is going to close. FRED can do it!

2…Now that I am hedging it would be fabulous to be able to close one side of the hedge with the simple click of a button. CL doesn’t always work here because sometimes both sides are still profitable. FRED can do it!

3…Be one button click away from closing my most recent position. Right now I achieve that by going into the account and doing it on my trade ledger.  FRED can do it!

I look forward to your feedback.

Shawn Witton

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This content provided by Shawn Witton participates in the FXOpen OCTL2 User Reports Contest. Good luck to Shawn!

This article represents the opinion of the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand only. It is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to products and services provided by the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand, nor is it to be considered financial advice.